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Majesté, a new recording by Le Poème Harmonique, led by Vincent Dumestre, of music by Michel-Richard de Lalande (1657-1726) new from Alpha Classics. Le Poème Harmonique are regular visitors to London, appreciated for the variety of their programes. On Friday this week, (11/5) they'll be at St John's Smith Square as part of the London Festival of Baroque, with a programme titled "At the World's Courts".

New from Harmonia Mundi, Perpetual Night. a superb recording of ayres and songs from the 17th century, by Ensemble Correspondances with Sébastien Daucé and Lucile Richardot. Ensemble Correspondances are among the foremost exponents of the music of Versailles and the French royalty, so it's good to hear them turn to the music of the Stuart court.

When I reviewed Tosca at Covent Garden in January this year for Opera Today, Maria Callas’s 1964 Royal Opera House performance was still fresh in my mind. This is a recording I have grown up with and which, despite its flaws, is one of the greatest operatic statements - a glorious production which Zeffirelli finally agreed to staging, etched in gothic black and white film (albeit just Act II), with Maria Callas and Tito Gobbi, if not always as vocally commanding as they once were, acting out their roles like no one has before, or since.

British music would not be where it is today without the influence of Charles Hubert Parry. His large choral and orchestral works are well known, and his Jerusalem is almost the national anthem. But in the centenary of his death, we can re-appraise his role in the birth of modern British song.

Les Funérailles Royales de Louis XIV, with Ensemble Pygmalion, conducted by Raphaël Pichon now on DVD/Blu -ray from Harmonia Mundi. This captures the historic performance at the Chapelle Royale de Versailles in November 2015, on the 300th anniversary of the King's death.

Tomas Luis de Victoria’s Tenebrae Responsories are designed to occupy the final three days of Holy Week, and contemplate the themes of loss, betrayal and death that dominate the Easter week. As such, the Responsories demand a sense of darkness, reflection and depth that this new recording by Stile Antico - at least partially - captures.

Mahler Symphony no 9 in D major, with Daniel Harding conducting the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, new from Harmonia Mundi. A rewarding performance on many levels, not least because it's thoughtfully sculpted, connecting structure to meaning.

Schubert's Winterreise is almost certainly the most performed Lieder cycle in the repertoire. Thousands of performances and hundreds of recordings ! But Mark Padmore and Kristian Bezuidenhout's recording for Harmonia Mundi is proof of concept that the better the music the more it lends itself to re-discovery and endless revelation.

New recording of the English version of Bohuslav Martinů's The Epic of Gilgamesh, from Supraphon, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Manfred Honeck. This is the world premiere recording of the text in English, the original language in which it was written.

The new recording, from Munich, has features in common with one from Stuttgart that I greatly enjoyed and reviewed here: the singers are all native French-speakers, the orchestra is associated with a German radio channel, we are hearing an actual performance (or in this case an edited version from several performances, in April 2016), and the recording is released by the orchestra itself or its institutional parent.

The two works on this CD make an apt and welcome pair. First we have Ravel’s sumptuous three-song cycle about the mysteries of love and fantasies of exotic lands. Then we have his one-act opera that takes place in a land that, to French people at the time, was beckoningly exotic, and whose title might be freely translated “The Nutty and Delightful Things That Can Happen in Spain in Just One Hour”.

I had never heard of Stefano Secco before receiving this CD. But I see that, at age 34, he already has had a substantial career, singing major roles at important houses throughout Europe and, while I was not paying attention, occasionally in the US.

Here are five complete song sets by two of the greatest masters of French song. The performers are highly competent. I should have known, given the rave reviews that their 2015 recording of modern Norwegian songs received.

The opera world barely knows how to handle works that have significant amounts of spoken dialogue. Conductors and stage directors will often trim the dialogue to a bare minimum (Magic Flute), have it rendered as sung recitative (Carmen), or have it spoken in the vernacular though the sung numbers may often be performed in the original language (Die Fledermaus).

Here is the latest CD from a major label promoting a major new soprano. Aida Garifullina is utterly remarkable: a lyric soprano who also can handle coloratura with ease. Her tone has a constant shimmer, with a touch of quick, narrow vibrato even on short notes.

With this recording of Mozart’s 1771 opera, Il sogno di Scipione (Sicpio’s Dream), Classical Opera continue their progress through the adolescent composer’s precocious achievements and take another step towards the fulfilment of their complete Mozart opera series for Signum Classics.

For instance, would Bellini have
bested the success of I puritani had he lived to compose again? Or
what might Turandot have sounded like had Puccini not had that fatal
post-surgery heart attack? “What if” musings about Gaetano Donizetti’s
last opera are especially bittersweet. Unlike Bellini’s and Puccini’s,
Donizetti’s final work, Dom Sébastien, roi de Portugal, was
composed some four years before his death in 1848. Even though Caterina
Cornaro was the last work he debuted, it actually had been composed a
year before Dom Sébastien, the five-act grand opéra that
premiered in Paris in 1843. It was during its rehearsals at the Opéra that
the symptoms of cerebro-spinal syphilis, the disease that would kill the
composer, began to incapacitate him mentally and physically, signaling the
end of years of frenetic professional activity between Vienna, Paris, and a
variety of theaters in Italy.

In spite of Donizetti’s health problems, the onset of which had troubled
Dom Sébastien’s genesis, the opera poses a critical “what
if.” Had Donizetti been able to continue his prolific career, would
he—indeed, could he—have outdone what he achieved in this opera?
Dom Sébastien is a massive score of nearly symphonic proportions
expertly colored with elements that portray Europe and exotic Africa.
Moreover, by employing allusion to chant, Donizetti even reflected the
austerity of the Inquisition. Although there are “signature” passages
that identify the opera as his, its magnitude introduces a heretofore unknown
Donizetti at his creative peak—ironic, of course, since it also signals his
creative demise.

Those who know Donizetti through the “standards”—Don
Pasquale, Lucia di Lammermoor, and L’elisir
d’amore—owe it to themselves to hear Dom Sébastien. An
1984 recording on the Legato Classics label exists but to get the full power
and sheer dynamic drama of the work, Opera Rara’s three CD box with (as
always) exhaustive liner notes is a better choice. As usual, Opera Rara has
issued a recording that boasts historical integrity; the score employed was
based on the one edited by musicologist Mary Ann Smart and published by
Ricordi in 2003 as part of its Critical Edition of Donizetti’s works. A
critical edition painstakingly traces all authorized versions and revisions,
thus allowing modern interpreters a number of performance choices that will
still reflect the work in its original forms. Opera Rara has taken this
responsibility to heart, even including libretto passages by Dom
Sébastien’s librettist Eugène Scribe that Donizetti may never have
set. Also, three tracks faithfully interpret the music of the opera’s
ballet, that ubiquitous element in French opera. Recorded in concert version
at Covent Garden in 2005, this production truly exhibits the entirety of
Donizetti’s final work.

Even though this is the finest recording of Dom Sébastien
available, it is not without road bumps. Although the Orchestra of the Royal
Opera House plays flawlessly under the baton of Mark Elder and that house’s
chorus supports the soloists admirably under Renato Balsadonna’s direction,
the cast is uneven. Sharing honors as the best of the cast are tenor Giuseppe
Filianoti, who sings Sébastian, and baritone Simon Keenlyside as his Moorish
rival, Abayaldos. Both singers offer impressive interpretations, so
impressive, in fact, that they often show off the weaknesses of their fellow
cast members. Alone, Filianoti always offers a clear, strong voice,
impressive in such arias as “Seul sur la terre.” Similarly,
Keenlyside’s renderings are consistent and rich. He, too, is perhaps the
performer who most ably, through his voice alone, exploits the drama of the
role entrusted to him.

Vesselina Kasarova (Zayda) has a rich mezzo with lush dark overtones, but
her use of portamento at times approaches “scooping,” a distraction as
she often approaches her notes from below. She almost always interprets the
Moorish girl with vocal intensity, but there are delightful moments, such as
in the aria “O mon Dieu, sur la terre,” when she allows her lyrical
abilities to shine. Generally, she pairs well with the other singers,
absolutely critical in this opera which is heavily laden with complex
ensemble singing. However, the final notes of her Act II duet with Filianoti
(“Courage!...ô mon roi! Courage”) take her mezzo to an uncomfortable
altitude; while Filianoti hits his pitch with ease, she almost screeches
hers. On the other hand, she pairs perfectly with Keenlyside; especially
noteworthy is the Act II duet “Ah! Eh bien! Je le préfère/ Ne crois pour
te soustraire” in which the dynamic climax allows her to remain comfortably
within her range.

One could have wished for a better vocal interpretation of the role of the
poet/soldier Camoëns. From his first appearance, “Soldat, j’ai rêvé la
victoire” baritone Carmelo Corrado Caruso disappoints. Certainly not
lacking in dramatic ability, his consistent wobble distracts from the vocal
lines Donizetti created for this character. He virtually circles his pitches,
at times so busily that it is hard to know where his is aiming. Although this
is particularly apparent in recitative, it also mars arias such as the
poet’s elegant musing, “O Lisbonne, ô ma patrie!”

Other roles are handled ably: Alastair Miles as Dom Juam de Silva, tenor
John Upperton as Dom Antonio and the First Inquisitor, Andrew Slater as
Ben-Sélim, Robert Gleadow as Dom Henrique, Martyn Hill as Dom Luis, Nigel
Cliffe as the Soldier, and John Bernays as the Third Inquisitor. Despite a
wonderful orchestra, cast, and chorus, the glory in this recording belongs to
Donizetti, whose score remains a wonder to this day. Because of its sheer
size, Dom Sébastien would rarely be cost-effective for any company
to produce (hence, the Royal Opera’s concert performances). Opera Rara’s
recording, then, is the safest way to hear a magnificent opera that promises
to have its listeners wondering “what if?”